A Cottage by the Sea - On My Mind

Baptistry floor in its massive and minute splendor

5/20/2022

Slowing down requires a continual commitment, or shall I say recommitment; it is a conscious process; essential if I want to stay in the moment, or as Ekhart Tolle suggests, to stay in the NOW. I try practicing this in my every day life—on my walk, in the supermarket, pouring coffee, right now as I write—stay conscious to whatever I am doing.
When I travel, I have an easier time of it because I am usually in the midst of some awesome visual experience that slows me down in my tracks. For sure, one of the reasons I go to Florence.
When I was there in March I visited the baptistery, part of the cathedral/bell tower complex. Usually my eyes are drawn upward to the mosaics in the apse and around the entire octagonal structure. But on this visit my eyes were guided downward to the marble mosaic floor. The floors, usually roped off and carpeted to avoid wear and tear, were open in all their massive and minute splendor. I took it all in as I found myself catapulted into the NOW.

Free day for solitude day

5/18/2022

How is this for a solitude day plan? Don’t plan anything!! The other morning I woke up with free day and decided just to let the hours and my body role along together. I did my usual morning meditation routine, but then what? I read a mystery novel, sat outside and listened to some music on YouTube, took a walk, meditated, read some more of the mystery, and then, as planned, walked with a friend. What I loved about this solitude day was that I did care what I did. If I had read the mystery all day, that would have been fine. Hmm, maybe I’ll do that on my next free day! Or even on a half-free day!

Should I go to visiting hours? YES, please go!

5/9/2022

If you’ve every find yourself debating whether to attend visiting hour or not, please, please go. Someone has died; the family has chosen to have public visiting hours—referred to a wake back in the day. Should I go? I don’t know the person who died very well; I don’t know the family at all. Should I go? Yes, go! The grieving family, in offering visiting hours, wants you to come. When we invite people to a party, we want them to say yes. What if no one came? Please, please go.
This morning I went to visiting for our neighbor who died at age 41, leaving a wife and two year old. I didn’t know them well. The sadness was palpable, but so was the gratitude that neighbors showed up. Please, please go.

Thought on solitude

5/5/2022

Here are my current thoughts on solitude. When I first became aware of my longing for solitude, I wanted chunks of time alone. Thus began my five winters renting the cottage by the sea. I loved knowing I had two or three days alone, with no plans, other than to watch the sunrise, walk the beach, read, do a puzzle, and sit in the silence and watch the sunset.
These days my life has a different rhythm, more social, fewer days all alone (except when I travel). I’m fine with this. Solitude is an internal feeling, which I can have even when I am with others.

Two different sunrises from 2013

Sending out love

4/30/2022

A neighbor, age 41, father of a two year old, died yesterday morning of a heart attack. We didn’t know the family well; they kept to themselves. But that has nothing to do with anything. The neighborhood, which includes my church, is reaching out. What to say? What to do? We can pray, however we do it, whatever that means to us. We find ourselves praying because rayer is what what human being do. We don’t have to be Religious with a capital R to pray.
Just follow what comes into your heart. Send some love out.

Donatello at the Bargello

4/26/2022

I’m longing for a little time back in Florence, so please join me at the Bargello, my favorite museum in my favorite city.
I was there just a few weeks ago, right when the museum opened in the morning. I immediately climbed the fortress steps in the courtyard and took a right into the Donatello Room. For 15 magical minutes I was there alone. Come with me.

Open your heart

4/22/2022

Here’s a little exercise to open your heart—to another, to gratitude, to the universe. You can do it when you’re in a crowd, with people you know, or while watching the news or looking at pictures in the newspaper.

The next time you’re in a public place, look into the crowd around you without being too obvious. Then make a mental note of one person—anyone. Ask yourself what it is about that person that touches you the deepest. Maybe it’s their innocence or smile….maybe it will be something as simple as how this individual deals with life’s challenges.
   Now close your eyes and imagine what your day would be like if you didn’t know that this person was in the world. Think of how empty that moment would have been , and how much you miss him or her.
   You may be surprised at the impact that such a simple exercise, in a brief moment, can make! Now you can give heartfelt gratitude and thanks for the person who was there for you, and what they taught you about yourself.
   Greg Braden, Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer, p. 114-115.

Norman Rockwell #2

4/20/2022

For those of you on Covid watch for my husband and me, there is not much to see. Whew, very grateful for that. Our cold-like symptoms have dissipated and since we are still a little tired, we sleep well at night. Nevertheless, we are isolating, and enjoying that little perk—my husband gardening and I walking. We will take a covid test tomorrow and go from there.
Here are some more Rockwells, these not as well known. Enjoy!

Norman Rockwell Museum and Stockbridge

4/17/2022

Here it is Easter. I’ve been home for over two weeks, back in the routine. We gone to the Berkshires for a couple of nights with friends, and visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. We came home, I got my second booster and saw a few people. And then, our friends called to tell us they tested positive for Covid; two days later, so did we. Well, I needed a vacation, and now I have one. Neither my husband or I fell very bad—a little sniffly and luxuriously sleepy. Plenty of time to dream about all those Rockwells.

Freedom Paintings

Flunking silence, solitude and simplicity

4/4/2022

I flunked silence, solitude, and simplicity on my way home on Friday. The flight from Florence went well, as did my trek through the CDG Paris airport. The 1:30 PM flight to Boston was a little delayed, but no problem. As we neared Ireland the pilot announced that due to a little mechanical problem we would be turning back to CDG, but no problem. Fine with me. We were told that Air France personnel would meet the plane and help us rebook our flight, but no problem. That was at 6 PM. Then the problem began.
Five plus hours later, at 11:30 PM, along with two young women who had taken me under their wing, we were in a taxi to an airport hotel twenty minutes away (it’s a HUGE airport). The following day, after comfy but rather unrestful sleep, a full breakfast with my new friends, and a taxi back to the terminal, we boarded the 1:30 flight and made it to Boston 15 minutes early. No problem. Clearly Air France flunked.

A picture tells a thousand words.

A picture tells a thousand words.

That being noted, I flunked keeping the silence, solitude, and simplicity that l long for and want to create in my life. At times during the five hour wait in line, I spoke up with annoyance and impatience, forgetting my calm, my zen, my loving spirit. In my defense, however, along with my travel companions, I also remembered my gratitudes. Everyone of us was able to stop being self-involved, to recall the Ukrainians, either fleeing or hiding from death guns and bombs.